The Acute Stroke unit at the Royal London Hospital has come out top of a national audit.

It has emerged with a score of 97 per cent in the Royal College of Physicians efficiency audit of 190 hospitals all over the country, the Barts Health NHS Trust revealed today.

The Stroke unit is staffed by specialists day and night who diagnose and treat patients as soon as they arrive in A&E.

The hospital’s Stroke Services director, Dr Patrick Gompertz, put the high recovery rate down to fast treatment and quicker, more personalised rehabilitation.

“Patients get better much faster if they’re at home,” he said. “So we make sure they have as short a hospital stay as possible—then develop a personal rehabilitation plan that allows them to get care in the community.”

The stroke units at Newham and Whipps Cross university hospitals, also run by Barts Health Trust, scored high as well, putting them in the top quarter of the league table. Newham got almost 94 per cent and Whipps Cross 87 per cent.

The audit showed “east Londoners now have access to the best stroke services in the country,” the trust said.

The audit judged how stroke services were run, including staffing levels, treating patients and providing thrombolysis or clot-busting facilities.

It looked at specialist doctors being available round-the-clock and how well they communicated with patients, as well as staff training and the number of clinical research trials the hospital runs to find new ways of care.